-isms

“Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ‘ism,’

he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: ‘I don't believe in Beatles.

I just believe in me.’ A good point there.”

~ Ferris Bueller

This comes from one of the greatest movie monologues of all time: the “How to Fake Out Parents and Avoid School” discourse from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Now, I don’t take much stock in anything John Lennon believed in, but I’ve always been in one accord with him and Ferris on their stance on isms. I’m not an ism guy.

First let me clarify something. I’m against a certain kind of isms, not words spelled with i-s-m. For example, prisms are nice. Once upon a time, I gave my wife one in the form of a diamond engagement ring. Schisms, well, maybe that’s not the best example, but I’m sure if you do your homework you’ll see that some good has come of them.

So what is an ism? Well, a definition might be best. Have a look.

***Actually, –ism (suffix) and ism (noun) are two different things. Feast your eyes.

The latter is the one that Bueller, Lennon, and me believe is not good, but I’m coming at it with a Christian worldview. Now you might say, “What about Calvinism or Arminianism? You must believe in one or the other if you are a good Christian.” My answer is this: Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ism. Before you burn me in effigy, hear me.

The Bible is the revelation of God to people, and a great deal of it requires that you have the Holy Spirit residing in you to understand it. That means anyone, given they are regenerated, can understand anything the Bible has to say by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No degree necessary.

On the other hand, Christian isms are the constructs of men to simplify the Bible. They sum it up, and make things nice and neat. They are meant for good – to teach sound doctrine. But the unregenerate are capable of fully understanding these systems and arguing them until they are blue in the face every bit as much as a Christian is. It turns what God gave us into something man made. 

It’s like this: God gave us what we are supposed to know about him in a treasure chest called the Bible. It takes effort to get to know him. Then smart men simplified the treasure chest down into a basket – but they came up with different looking baskets. The problem is that you have believers looking in one basket or another for treasure, and that’s not what God intended. He gave us the treasure chest. I'll say it again. A person should not believe in an ism.

A person should believe THE WORD. No matter what this person or that person says, you don’t need an ism. You'll be just fine without an ism. Generally speaking, the -ists are usually the ones pushing their isms anyway. They will argue it will keep you from heresy. Hogwash. Heresy from believing the other guy's ism maybe. I’ll take the guidance of the Holy Spirit over an ism any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

To sum it up, isms, in my opinion, are not good. Leave the isms to the ists, and bury your nose in The Word. Let the Holy Spirit teach you. God gave you a treasure chest. Don’t settle for a basket. 

Keep It Classy...

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them,
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy:

2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against: And,

3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”


~John Wesley, October 6, 1774

A friend with good sense brought this quote to my attention today, and it just needs to be passed on.

With social media having more of an impact than ever, this has been the ugliest presidential campaign season that I have ever seen. Some friends of mine (like in the real world) have completely changed over the past few months. Some have turned into annoying political pundits. Some have sprouted horns, spewing hate about the other candidate and his supporters every chance they get. Many have un-friended and been un-friended on Facebook because of their views, or more accurately, because of the manner in which they present their views. Some have gone anti-government, some anti-America. Some have just gone insane. A very few, probably the wise ones, have been silent.

I’m really not surprised by the actions of some of my acquaintances that do not claim to be Christians. Why should I be? Should I expect a man without the Spirit of God in him to carry himself in the same way that a man with the Spirit of God in him would? Certainly not. So when a couple of my non-Christian acquaintances have acted like eloquent philistines, not only abusing free speech, but the very gift of speech that God gave them, I am not surprised.

However, I am disturbed by the behavior of some professing Christians as of late. If you saw just their political posts on Facebook in the past few weeks, you couldn’t distinguish them from the likes of Bill Maher. Some have insulted our President, made disparaging remarks about the opposing candidate and his supporters (both sides), and worst of all, engaged in the latest form of gossip: RE-POSTING… Posting unconfirmed stats, images, etc. usually just to tear someone down. This is both liberal and conservative Christians doing this, and it is utterly disgusting.

If you are now, or have been doing this, you need to know that this is sin against God on a number of points. First of all, no matter how you or I personally feel about any given president, the Bible clearly teaches that we are to give him the respect and honor he is due (Romans 13:6-7). That’s non-negotiable, and if you can find a biblical loophole on not loving or respecting another person, be sure to let me know. Second, the Bible clearly teaches that God is the One who puts leaders in their position of authority (Romans 13:1-5). You may have been taught all your life that your vote matters, but it doesn’t matter as much as God’s, and we would all do well to keep that in mind. Third, Christians may give unbelievers cause to blaspheme the name of the Lord when they deviate from what the Bible teaches on our relationship to the governing authorities. Christians should be model citizens. When unbelievers see us behave contrary to the plain and clear teaching of Scripture, they rightfully call us hypocrites, but to their detriment, they also attack God. Fourth, relationships are strained damaged, broken, and sometimes completely severed. The Bible teaches that God will not accept your worship as long as someone else has something against you (Matthew 5:21-26)… You need to make things right with them, or your days of being right with God are over. Let that sink in for a second.

Look, it takes one to know one. I’ve had to do some confessing of my own. But afterward, it made all this that much more ugly. Take some time… Do it now. Don’t wait. If you have some things you need to confess to God, tell Him, and don’t get caught up in that business again. We all need to get our hearts right more than anything else.

(Thanks to Kirsten for the post title)